Yuki Sasaki Caldwell – Learning Japanese: A Gateway into Culture

Japan attracts tens of millions of travelers from around the world every year. With its spectacular natural beauty, world heritage sites, immensely rich history, global pop culture influence, and the technology allure of cities like Tokyo, it has a little bit of everything. While you don’t have to speak Japanese to enjoy this beautiful island nation, learning the language opens the country and culture to you in a way non-Japanese speakers would miss. Now is the time to venture into this fascinating language with Learning Japanese: A Gateway into Culture. In 36 lessons, you will learn not only how to speak, read, and write Japanese on an introductory level, but also to appreciate the culture as revealed in the language—a culture built on respect for others and the supreme importance of community.

Your professor, Yuki Sasaki Caldwell, is a native Japanese speaker who has lived and worked in the United States for decades. She teaches with an energy and enthusiasm for her subject that makes learning a new language as fun as it is informative. In addition to hearing the language spoken and seeing it written, this course’s on-screen transliteration and graphics make it easy for you to follow along as you increase your Japanese language skills.

Japanese Language Reveals Japanese Culture

Every language reveals aspects of its national culture, and this is especially true of Japanese. Even if you knew absolutely nothing about the country, you would become intimately familiar with Japanese culture by learning the language.

One of the most significant values in Japanese culture is the inclination to be polite; you never want to brag or put another person in an awkward or embarrassing position. This desire for civility, politeness, and respect is paramount in every aspect of Japanese life. Supporting that value, the Japanese language has three separate forms of speech corresponding to three levels of politeness: the plain or dictionary form, the polite form, and the honorific or humble form. Choosing the appropriate form to use while speaking Japanese is a much more complex decision and has greater ramifications than choosing between “yep” or “yes, ma’am” in English.

In this course, Yuki teaches the three forms and guides you in choosing which form to use in which circumstances. She explains the cultural emphasis on values, such as:

• Humility. You will notice in conversation that Japanese people deflect compliments. In fact, they will state out loud that they’re not very good at the action they’re being complimented for, no matter their actual skill level, because being humble is valued much more highly than having achievements.
• Respecting Elders. Japan has a long history of showing respect to older people and that is also reflected in the language. The honorific form is always used when speaking to older people—meaning anyone older than yourself—as a sign of respect and politeness. If you don’t know if someone is old enough to deserve that honorific form of speech, it’s always best to err on the side of politeness.
• Not Saying “No.” Japanese cultural norms dictate that you never answer a question with a direct “no.” Instead, Japanese provides other vocabulary for those situations. The appropriate Japanese responses are indirect or incomplete and would be considered “hemming and hawing” in English. But your native Japanese language partner will understand your meaning and appreciate this approach.